cabot – My Halal Kitchen by Yvonne Maffeihttp://myhalalkitchen.com
Tue, 08 Aug 2017 20:09:09 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.7.5http://myhalalkitchen.com/wp-content/uploads/cropped-7220-300x300.jpgcabot – My Halal Kitchen by Yvonne Maffeihttp://myhalalkitchen.com
3232IFANCA Halal & Healthy Workshop at American Islamic Association 2015http://myhalalkitchen.com/aia-ifanca-workshop-2015/
http://myhalalkitchen.com/aia-ifanca-workshop-2015/#respondFri, 15 May 2015 17:02:49 +0000http://myhalalkitchen.com/?p=19977Last month I presented a workshop in a series of similar presentations around Chicago sponsored by IFANCA (Islamic Food & Nutrition Council of America) where we visited the American Islamic Association located in Frankfort, IL. Working with Asma Ahad, Food Scientist at IFANCA, our presentation consisted of a little bit of food science about how tastes ... Read more

]]>Last month I presented a workshop in a series of similar presentations around Chicago sponsored by IFANCA (Islamic Food & Nutrition Council of America) where we visited the American Islamic Association located in Frankfort, IL.

Working with Asma Ahad, Food Scientist at IFANCA, our presentation consisted of a little bit of food science about how tastes and flavors in food – real or artificial- affect your cravings;

and a little bit of food demo in which I demonstrated how to make four dishes, all of which were offered in sample size as the event.

You can find the recipes for the following dishes at the links below:

Crunchy Party Mix using halal-certified chickpeas from Saffron Road and halal-certified pistachios from Awesome brand. Get the recipe here.

]]>http://myhalalkitchen.com/aia-ifanca-workshop-2015/feed/0Late Night Nachos with Ground Beef & Cheesehttp://myhalalkitchen.com/late-night-nachos-with-ground-beef-cheese/
http://myhalalkitchen.com/late-night-nachos-with-ground-beef-cheese/#commentsTue, 14 Apr 2015 05:27:37 +0000http://myhalalkitchen.com/?p=19758I’m usually pretty good about not eating too late at night, especially heavy foods. Otherwise I have to get out some sort of vinegar in my pantry and chuck it quickly before the heartburn sets in… I posted this picture on Instagram and a lot of people were asking me for the recipe so I ... Read more

First, get some of your favorite tortilla chips- make sure they’re non-GMO. I like the Trader Joe’s brand tortilla chips or Milagro brand.

Next, add some cooked and spiced ground beef. I use a homemade chorizo blend that is now my favorite (you’ll get the recipe in my upcoming cookbook, insha’Allah).

Add some cubes or thin slices of Cabot Cheesehalal-certified varieties on top of the beef. I use their Sharp Cheddar, which is wonderful.

Microwave for 1-2 minutes on medium-high or put in a toaster oven for 5-7 minutes, using an oven safe pan.

When it’s still hot, drizzle some avocado salsa and hot sauce on top. I love the Valentina brand and I think all of the brands I’m using really do make the difference, but you can definitely choose your own. I was actually lamenting that if I had sour cream at home I would dilute it slightly and drizzle on top, but my husband disagrees and says it would only cover up all the nicely spiced meat and other ingredients. The experimentalist in me will certainly want to try that next time..

]]>http://myhalalkitchen.com/late-night-nachos-with-ground-beef-cheese/feed/2Flatbread Triangles with Cheese and Fresh Veggieshttp://myhalalkitchen.com/flatbread-triangles-cheese-fresh-veggies/
http://myhalalkitchen.com/flatbread-triangles-cheese-fresh-veggies/#commentsSat, 27 Sep 2014 17:03:50 +0000http://myhalalkitchen.com/?p=18353I’m working with IFANCA (Islamic Food and Nutrition Council) on their upcoming Halal and Healthy workshops around the Chicagoland area where I’ll be conducting food demos on four different recipes, all super simple and all using halal-certified products. These flatbread triangles, great kid-friendly snack, is just one of four I’ll be making and our audience ... Read more

]]>I’m working with IFANCA (Islamic Food and Nutrition Council) on their upcoming Halal and Healthy workshops around the Chicagoland area where I’ll be conducting food demos on four different recipes, all super simple and all using halal-certified products.

These flatbread triangles, great kid-friendly snack, is just one of four I’ll be making and our audience tasting at each workshop.

If you can’t be at any particular workshop, you can still enjoy the flavors, the simplicity of the process and see which halal-certified products can be used to make it.

For more information about the locations, dates and times of the workshops, please visit the IFANCA Facebook or Twitter pages. Of course I’ll be sharing on the My Halal Kitchen Facebook and Twitter pages, too. We’d love to see you in person!

Use a pair of kitchen scissors or shears to cut each piece of flatbread into eight even triangles.

Arrange a serving platter with all of the bread pieces then place a small piece of baby lettuce or arugula on top. Add one square slice of cheese on top and then add a sliced tomato or cucumber. Keep in place with a toothpick, if necessary.

]]>http://myhalalkitchen.com/flatbread-triangles-cheese-fresh-veggies/feed/1Two-Minute Quesadillashttp://myhalalkitchen.com/two-minute-quesadillas/
http://myhalalkitchen.com/two-minute-quesadillas/#commentsSat, 28 Jun 2014 06:05:24 +0000http://myhalalkitchen.com/?p=17102No time for suhoor, but you need something hot in your tummy? These super-quick quesadillas are so easy to make- you may want to take out the hot sauce and fire-roasted chiles (peppers) if your stomach can’t handle the spice in the wee hours of the morning, though. *White cheddar cheese is produced by Cabot ... Read more

]]>No time for suhoor, but you need something hot in your tummy? These super-quick quesadillas are so easy to make- you may want to take out the hot sauce and fire-roasted chiles (peppers) if your stomach can’t handle the spice in the wee hours of the morning, though.

*White cheddar cheese is produced by Cabot and certified-halal by IFANCA.

Two-minute quesidallas with white cheddar cheese, roasted green chiles and hot sauce. Use a non-stick pan if you prefer not to cook directly over the flame.

]]>http://myhalalkitchen.com/two-minute-quesadillas/feed/2IFANCA’s 15th Annual Halal Food Conference 2013http://myhalalkitchen.com/ifancas-15th-annual-halal-food-conference-2013/
http://myhalalkitchen.com/ifancas-15th-annual-halal-food-conference-2013/#respondTue, 14 May 2013 05:27:32 +0000http://myhalalkitchen.com/?p=14611Last month I had the privilege of attending IFANCA’s 15th Annual Halal Food Conference 2013 right here in the Chicago suburbs, attended by business, industry and political leaders from around the globe. Who would have thought so many different kinds of people from such a huge variety of professions could be interested in the halal ... Read more

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Last month I had the privilege of attending IFANCA’s 15th Annual Halal Food Conference 2013 right here in the Chicago suburbs, attended by business, industry and political leaders from around the globe. Who would have thought so many different kinds of people from such a huge variety of professions could be interested in the halal food and consumer goods market?

Well, there’s plenty.

And this conference demonstrated how much potential, interest, and promise of future growth there is in this industry that encompasses food, cosmetics and many other retail products.

The theme of this year’s 15th annual IFANCA conference was Halal United: An Integrated Approach, demonstrating the need to collaborate on all levels of the food and textile industry where consumables are sold to Muslims and those interested in halal products.

After a wonderful breakfast serving all halal foods and drinks (including the very clever alcohol-free Bloody Mary), Dr. Muhammad Munir Chaudry, President of IFANCA, opened up the conference by giving an overview of the various topics that would be touched on during the three-day conference:

Various aspects of the halal supply chain

Import/export requirements

Halal compliance

Halal assurance systems

Halal entrepreneurship opportunities

Animal welfare and religious requirements

Food safety and security

Talks from governmental agencies(Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, GCC)

Relationship between suppliers/regulators

Domestic retail products, some of whom have been with IFANCA for two decades!

Dr. Chaudry touched on the fact that the eight million Muslims in USA and another one million in Canada have been sort of invisible and that now some companies are realizing there is purchasing power, even though it’s a niche industry.

I thought his reference to Devon Avenue here in Chicago as “Halal Avenue” was a clever one.

One of the first topics covered was about the Indonesia market which is the largest of halal markets worldwide at 125 million Muslims. Dr. H. Amidhan Shaberah, Chairman of the Indonesian Council of Ulama, spoke to this issue.

Adnan Durrani, Chief Halal Officer of Saffron Road, was there to talk about the many opportunities just waiting for entrepreneurs in the world of halal foods and other products. He showed a video about the driving growth of his brand, the first halal brand to be in Whole Foods Market as well as the fastest growing brand in the frozen food category there, making it #1 in July 2011 (the same year My Halal Kitchen hosted several giveaways for their products and Whole Foods gift cards for Ramadan during the first ever Ramadan campaign by a major retailer).

Other food brands present were Organic Valley, which has some halal certified products already but is working on more.

The History of Halal Certification and Halal Current Global Market, a presentation by Mian Riaz, Ph.D. Food Protein R & D Center, Texas A & M, was a very interesting one for the fact that it detailed out how halal foods were all originally made from very simple products but the complexity of the food industry created the need for a halal certification agency like IFANCA and just 35 years ago there was no concept of this whatsoever.

He mentioned this TED Talks video by Christien Meindertsma called “How Pig Parts Make the World Go Round”, which details out the numerous and fascinating places where pig parts end up on the consumables we are surrounded by each day. It’s also very important for halal and kosher consumers to be mindful of.

Dr. Riaz says there is a $3 trillion dollar market for the entire industry and that in the future Pakistan will have more growth than Indonesia as well as the emergence of potential halal markets in China, India, Brazil and Japan being critically important contributing factors to this number.

Br. Abdelhamid Evans of Imarat Consultants and the online magazine, Halal Focus gave an incredibly interesting talk about how halal represents a distillation of global human values that span across cultures and religion: the ethical, moral, spiritual. These values (lawful, safe, nutritious, healthy, humane, etc.) is what we see emerging as being important to everyone and it is shaping the evolution of a new market force: all foods, ingredients, non-food, pharma, logistics, accreditation arenas which are driven by shifts in perception.

He talked about how everyone is looking for new markets, yet everyone who does not look for the Muslim market is missing a huge opportunity. For example, halal is a policy issue in governments around the world; halal food merges with the finance sector, which trickles into the media and the consumer product development and creation processes demanded by consumers reaching all those high numbers that nearly every speaker touted during the conference.

Halal is going mainstream and mainstream is going halal.

And that’s a very good thing for business.

Hani Mansour of Kuwait spoke to the topic of the Globalization of Halal Standards due to the fact that domestic labeling not comprehensive and that there were plenty of non-halal ingredient loopholes that existed, indicating a lack of industry awareness on the benefits of halal standardization. I particularly liked the fact that among all the technical speak, he reminded everyone of the real meaning of halal and tayyib: healthy and wholesome, ethical.

Additional speakers and topics that continued were quite technical and fascinating. Much of it was jargon that food scientists are most comfortable with, but anyone in the food industry would probably think of a million questions to ask in terms of how things are done.

I think a couple of my questions may have been out of the realm of the world of food science, but I was just looking out for all of us consumers who really want to know what’s in our food and how it gets there.

Moving right along…

The US Dairy Council was there to talk about the halal requirements for dairy that included checks on emulsifiers and thickening agents, rennet and enzymes used to manufacture cheese and whey ingredients, drying equipment and packaging materials. They touched on the many sources of rennet being: 1) animal (almost never used because it’s too expensive); 2) microbial, 3) plant, 4) fermentation (yeasts, bacteria, fungi).

Also mentioned was that in Middle East, the governments do not require dairy requirements to be halal certified, although in countries like Malaysia and Indonesia they do.

Quite an interesting topic from the dairy council to a dairy lover like myself.

More food science specific topics included the topic of gelatin by Riyaz Khan of Nitta Gelatin India Ltd. headquartered in Osaka, Japan, with plants in India, China, and North America. He described gelatin so thoroughly to be:

Go back to the TED Talks video above. A lot of the stuff they use gelatin for is not just for industrial applications, but also to clarify drinks and make cakes look nice come from the parts of the pig that produce gelatin, but it can also be sourced from halal animals and sea life.

Mr. Khan mentioned the following sources of gelatin:

Bovine bone, bovine hide, pork skin, pig bone, fish scale

And that halal gelatin must be derived from halal sources (i.e. bovine animals) and that all plants sources must also be halal (perhaps he meant that the intoxicating sorts would not qualify?).

Food for thought:

Gelatin has been used in the Western world since 12th century.

So how does one go about the sourcing of halal animal ingredients?

There was a lecture for that, too.

Just check out all of the various things that need to come from halal sources in our consumables:

enzymes

shortening

glycerin

oleic acid

gelatin

glycerin

glycerol

You know you’ve seen them in medicines and foods. (hint: cheese, bread, vitamins, etc.)

And if that wasn’t enough, did you know…

That packaging is just as important to the halal industry?

The use of plasticizers and slip agents (mostly used to bring you your packaged foods and other goods) can come from lard, tallow, rennet, pepsin, whey, natural and artificial flavors, glyercol, glycerin, lecitihin, mono and diglycerides, gelatin, collagen– all of which can be sourced via the pig.

That’s really just the tip of the iceberg…

There’s more.

But you might not want to be inundated with all of that.

Which is why IFANCA exists.

Some people may not see the need for a halal certification agency- they might just see it as a way for an organization to profit from an unnecessary and tedious effort at making things difficult for producers.

But that’s really not the case, I believe.

I’ve personally seen the founder, food scientists and other people at this organization who truly care about their work. They care about Islam and pleasing Allah (swt) by trying as hard as they can to ensure that our foods are halal through and through. That’s an enormously important effort that takes a lot of work off the back of the consumers.

IFANCA’s statement is that an animal ingredient in a product must be halal-slaughtered in order to be halal-certified.

That alone is a lot of work, dedication, time, education of the product owners and then the consumers, us.

Whether or not you agree with what they do or care about a conference catering to food industry individuals striving to learn from one another about their particular technical expertise in this arena, one thing I will ask you to do is simply take a look at the years of work IFANCA has provided us as consumers and all the headway they’ve made so far to bring some of the best brands around to get a halal certification, showing us that {despite all the elephants in the room} they care enough to cater to our needs by providing proof that their ingredients meet the highest standard we have: halal and tayyib.

What have you taken away from this overview of IFANCA’s 15th Annual Halal Food Conference?

]]>http://myhalalkitchen.com/ifancas-15th-annual-halal-food-conference-2013/feed/0Cheesy Jalapeño Burgershttp://myhalalkitchen.com/cheesy-jalapeno-burgers/
http://myhalalkitchen.com/cheesy-jalapeno-burgers/#commentsFri, 03 Aug 2012 08:22:04 +0000http://www.myhalalkitchen.com/?p=10940It’s summer. It’s Ramadan. Do you blame me for craving a burger? Hopefully not, because maybe you are, too. Chances are there’s plenty of people grilling the summer away as much as possible, since that’s usually the most popular item to throw on. In my case, grilling isn’t so easy so I opt for either ... Read more

]]>It’s summer. It’s Ramadan. Do you blame me for craving a burger? Hopefully not, because maybe you are, too. Chances are there’s plenty of people grilling the summer away as much as possible, since that’s usually the most popular item to throw on. In my case, grilling isn’t so easy so I opt for either oven baking or pan sautéing my burgers. Either way you have them, I think you’re going to love this recipe for a super-quick burger topped with what I think is one of our nation’s best cheese..and it’s halal-certified.

Cheese from Vermont-based Cabot Creamery has long been on my list of favorite cheeses and in my shopping cart for many years, especially since I noticed that several of their products were halal-certified by IFANCA.

These are high-quality cheese products whose ingredients are carefully crafted by farmer owners of this cooperative. They’ve been doing this since 1919 and I can tell by its consistent taste that they’re dedicated to quality that’s just not found in every day products. My favorites are the cheddar cheese, particularly the Seriously Sharp (as shown in the above photo). I find them in bulk at Costco stores, but also at local retail grocers, too.

When sliced, this particular cheddar cheese looks a bit like butter, and it’s creamy like it, too. That’s why I chose it to top my burgers. The combo was amazing, particularly with the pop of spice that comes with the jalapeño in this recipe.

You only need a few ingredients and the process goes pretty quickly. Spices are minimal, but you can certainly add what you like. Just make sure there’s jalapeño. If you have kebsa spice, that’s a great alternative for the ground cumin. I actually think it’s even more flavorful since it’s a mixture of a variety of spices.

Use fresh bread crumbs, homemade if you have them on hand. To a food processor you’ll combine all the spices and ingredients above plus a little bit of garlic, fresh tomato, onion, and one egg.

Add about a pound and a half of ground beef, lamb, turkey or chicken. Very versatile. Mix until the everything is nicely combined and the meat lifts itself off the hook just a bit. That’s how I know it’s just the right texture.

Form your patties, or if you want to make kebobs instead at this point, they’re a great texture to do that. Heat a little oil in a saute pan and cook over medium flame for about 5-6 minutes on each side, covering after they’ve browned. Alternatively, if you’re going to bake or grill them, you’ll need to adjust heat temperatures and times for those.

Now comes the juicy part: Prepare your burger bun. We like mayo in this house and for this burger, I didn’t want to add mustard or tabasco or ketchup because I wanted to taste all the flavors in the burger.

Place a few small slices of cheese on top of each burger then either warm in the oven, in a pan (covered), in the microwave (not my favorite)- just melt it. Without the bun. Otherwise the bread gets soft, then hard later on when you’re ready to eat it. Not good.

Oh, did I forget to tell you that I made fries, too?

They were baked in the oven. Red potatoes, thinly sliced. Salt, pepper and olive oil drizzled on top. 350° for around 35 minutes. Use parchment paper on the baking sheet- saves a lot of clean-up time and you can recycle the paper later.

Now this is a burger and fries kind of Iftar…

So, what do you think? Are you a burger ‘n fries kinda person, at least once in a while? What’s your go-to cheese on your favorite burger?

To enter, please read our Official Giveaway Guidelines page first then add a relevant comment answering the question posed in order to be officially entered into the giveaway. Entering indicates you have read the guidelines. Giveaway ends at 12:01 am on August 10, 2012.

To a food processor add the breadcrumbs, spices, garlic, onion and tomato. Add the beef then crack the egg on top.

Mix to combine for about 30 seconds, or until the meat comes slightly off the blade. It should reach the consistency of fine ground meat.

Form patties to the desired size, making sure they are consistent in size and there are no cracks in each one.

Heat oil in a sauté pan over medium flame.

Place the patties in the hot oil, but do not crowd the pan. Cook for about 5 minutes on one side, or until nicely browned underneath and the meat pulls off the pan easily. Flip gently then cover the pan.

Cook for an additional 5-6 minutes or until the burgers have browned nicely on the other side and are fully cooked in the middle.

Remove from heat and transfer to a paper towel-lined plate. Cover and let rest for several minutes.

Add cheese and melt on top either by placing in the microwave for one minute or a toaster oven. Prepare burger buns with desired toppings and enjoy with a side of baked fries, a salad, or even a fresh batch of guacamole.

]]>http://myhalalkitchen.com/cheesy-jalapeno-burgers/feed/17Halal Certified Cheddar Cheesehttp://myhalalkitchen.com/halal-certified-cheddar-cheese/
http://myhalalkitchen.com/halal-certified-cheddar-cheese/#commentsFri, 14 Nov 2008 20:19:29 +0000http://halalkitchen.wordpress.com/?p=158Shopping at Costco is both exciting and overwhelming. I always worry that I’ll miss something and equally worry that I’ll buy something in my excitement for the variety and quantity that is not actually halal. With regards to one product, my worry was replaced with delight when I was studying the cheese aisle. Which flavor ... Read more

Shopping at Costco is both exciting and overwhelming. I always worry that I’ll miss something and equally worry that I’ll buy something in my excitement for the variety and quantity that is not actually halal.

With regards to one product, my worry was replaced with delight when I was studying the cheese aisle. Which flavor should I choose for the meals I plan to create this week? Should I experiment with European varieties or stick to the American varieties I already know? Should I buy slices, blocks or cubes?

I stumbled upon a Vermont brand I’m familiar with from shopping at Trader Joe’s- it was the Cabot brand of Vermont. When I turned it over to search for the ingredients, I discovered a Halal certification symbol right next to the Kosher certification symbol. I had to blink to make sure I wasn’t just seeing what I wanted to see. Sure enough, it was real, but on only this type of cheese made by Cabot, not the other varieties at this particular Costco (Mt. Prospect, IL).

Here are the details of the cheese:

Sharp Classic Vermont Cheddar Cheese made by Cabot out of Vermont. Net wt. 2 LB. Ingredients: Milk, Cheese Cultures, Salt, Enzymes. Manufactured by Cabot Creamery, Cabot, VT 05647. They even have a Cabot cheese blog! It appears you cannot buy their products online, but the website does have a store locator and a host of recipes and other information about cheese that is quite thoghtful of its consumers. No wonder, it’s dairy-farmer owned, since 1919.